Race Report: South Lakes 10k and 5 other races (all at the same time)

Contining the tradition of races whilst away on holiday/business, I entered the South Lakes 10k on a whim last night. Race HQ is South Lakes School in Reston, Fairfax County, Virginia. It's a beautiful area, full of large houses buried in the forest. As with most organised races in the US (in my experience at least) it was pretty expensive - $59.50 including fees and a voluntary $10 donation to the Track & Field team.

In its 7th year

When I was looking for races I found a load of "virtual" races that seem to be vehicles for squeezing a few quid out of people plus some charitable donations. But you get a medal. I'm a sucker for the bling. Before entering the 10k I was going to run 10k anyway, having already entered the  2018 World Chocolate Day 5k & 10k virtual event (run whenever you like in August, submit your time, and they'll mail you a medal). So I was up for a two-medal run! I wonder how many others I could get?

Milling about, ready to go - flags on the right with mile pacing to encourage self-seeding

So toeing the start line this morning I was ready to run the 2018 South Lakes 10k real life event, the 2018 World Chocolate Day 5k & 10k virtual event, the 2018 Dash for the Donuts 5k & 10k virtual event, the Potato Day 5k & 10k virtual event, the Smile run virtual event (with 2017 medal because they had some supplies left and are clearly sweating their assets), and the 2018 WHO Wants to Race for Autism 5k & 10k virtual event (featuring a really cool K9-shaped medal).

There were three other virtual events I found, but their medals were rubbish and 1+8 events all at once would just have been silly (1+5 is perfectly sensible).

All lined up, can we go now?

The school is beautiful, clearly in an affluent leafy area. I arrived by taxi at 6:45 to pick up my number (the DC Metro doesn't start running until 8am on Sunday). I was oddly nervous, it's a while since I've run a 10k at effort. I picked up number 247 and ran. up and down in the car park to warm up a bit.

Selfies are not my forté

We started bang on time at 7:30am, a nice short downhill out of the school and left out onto the perfectly finished wide local roads. The whole route was on tarmac, very little of it was flat. There were no big climbs or flat out descents, but the continual undulations were quite draining.

Lumpy - no massive climbs or descents, but nothing on the level

I felt a bit weak at around 7.5km to go, but picked it up from 8.5km onwards. The final 300m was on the running track - I rarely run on tracks, they're so springy! Must do a track session one day...

The only photo I stopped to take - I couldn't help it, so beautiful here!

The field sorted itself out quickly, pacing overall seemed to be remarkable good - after the first couple of km of sorting ourselves out I only gained and lost a handful of places for the rest of the event. All the intersections were staffed by police controlling the traffic, with cars parked up with their blues on. I don't know if the school get charged for the police engagement, but with closed roads all the way round I wouldn't be surprised.

Trying a bit hard for the finish

It was an enjoyable run and I enjoyed running 10km hard (well, as hard as I can at the moment!). I came in 14th of 30 in my age group, and 120th of 364 overall. Clock time was 55:39 which translates to 5:34/km (8:58/mile) - or it would if it was precisely 10km, I measured it a little long at 10.2km and going through 10km in 54:49 (which I'm happy with as I thought I'd come in at around 55 minutes, give or take a few seconds).

A big loop around the neighbourhood 

Here's the one you get on the day, photos of all the others to follow

I enjoyed the run, but it's a little bit tough to swallow given I ran my 10k personal best just 18 months ago, and I was over 10 minutes faster! Still, I'm getting better at working exercise into my work routine now, so we'll see what happens in the future.

Making a brief appearance on the parkrun.us most events table

Bonus news: I ran Kensington parkrun in Washington DC yesterday, which means I'm now 5/5 on DC parkruns, but more importantly I've made it onto the US most events table! I'm informed it won't last long, parkrun is gaining in popularity here and with a few more events the entry criteria will raise to 15 events.

Challenge accepted.

Update from September 5th: The virtual race medals turned up!

Race report: Centurion Running South Downs Way 50

The first 50 mile race of the season seems to have come around very quickly. The South Downs Way 50 is the first of the eight races Centurion Running are staging in 2017. They organise four 50 mile races (South Downs Way, North Downs Way, Chiltern Wonderland, and Wendover Woods), and four 100 mile races (Thames Path, North Downs Way, South Downs Way, and the Autumn 100). 

I've signed up for the Grand Slam of 50 mile races which is achieved if you complete all four 50 mile events, therefore the primary objective of the day was to get to the end within the thirteen hour cut-off. The second objective was to still be running at the end - historically my legs have broken down a bit in the last ten miles or so of ultra distance events and I've had to march my way to the finish. Third objective, set a new 50 mile personal best time and tick off another distance in my year of PB attempts. The target was the 11:38:31 time I'd set last year in the Chiltern Wonderland 50.

The route is point to point, and runs from Worthing to Eastbourne

Thanks to Southern Rail and another of their apparently never ending series of strikes, the trains on race day were set to be even more unreliable than usual. I opted to minimise the risk and splash out on hotels for the nights before and after the race.

Registrations were available the night before - this is a good move as it can get a bit busy and stressful on race morning with upwards of 300 people trying to register at once. I strolled up to Worthing College, Race HQ, and registered on Friday evening. It was nice and relaxed, I'm a big fan of pre-event registration.

Race HQ in Worthing College, the start was in a field over the road

Race start was 9am, plenty of time for a light hotel breakfast of bacon, egg, tomato, and a couple of cups of coffee. For anything up to a marathon I wouldn't eat before hand, but when I'm going to be out all day I prefer to have something to start the day. There were a couple of other runners down in the breakfast area, one offered us all a lift up to the start which was very kind and saved me a 40 minute stroll.

Assembling behind the starting inflatable before race briefing

After the customary short briefing from James, and a show of hands of who was taking on the 50 mile grand slam (and a couple of nutters who are attempting all eight races!) it was time to set off. I'm always impressed at the number of runners who choose a Centurion race for their first ultra - their reputation for well run, inclusive, and friendly events is well deserved.

Pre-race selfie

We set off bang on time. Spirits were high, everyone was smiling, the sun was shining already - it looked like a perfect day for a run in the countryside.

Given that the primary objective of the day was simply to get to the end, there was no need for early heroics. I trotted off at my own pace and soon fell in with a group of a dozen or so who were leapfrogging each other as we covered the early miles.

James Elson giving the race briefing

In order to get a new PB I needed to average around 8:30/km. I had configured a display on my watch to show me the time the last kilometre took, and the average time per kilometre. Sometimes, just knowing how far you've been running or how far you've gone can be quite a negative influence. It means you're continually trying to do mental arithmetic to see if you're on pace or not. I wanted to remove some of that stress.

The first half of the race passed by very comfortably. I'd set off a bit too fast (don't we always?), but not to the extent that I'd regret it later. As always the aid stations were staffed by friendly and supportive volunteers, and the choice of food and drink was excellent.

The weather was absolutely perfect. Bright and clear, warm but not too hot, and with a slight breeze to help sweat evaporate rather than get you all wet and drippy. Maybe, it was a little too perfect - as we ran through midday and into early afternoon my arms and legs started tingling a little from the sun. The problem with a point to point race is that the sun is always on the same side - and the problem with the South Downs is that there's very little shade. We were being lightly cooked in a surprisingly strong early April sun.

One of the early runnable inclines

I passed through 40km, around half way, in just a couple of seconds short of five hours. I expected a positive split (meaning the first half of the race is run faster than the second half) so I knew I'd take longer than ten hours overall, but it was looking good for a reasonable time - and I was in no danger of failing to meet the cut-off.

After the half way point I was on familiar ground - I'd run this half in training a fortnight ago, and it shares shares a 10 mile stretch with the Moyleman marathon which was also just a few weeks ago. Sure, there was still 25 miles to go, but I could visualise most of it and I knew there would be no nasty surprises.

Passing through the aid station at Southsea Youth Hostel, 50km in, I was happy to see Louise who topped up my water and chatted for a moment or two. I'm not a big fan of talking to people whilst racing, I prefer my own company, but it's nice to see a familiar face at the aid stations to exchange a few words with. Thanks Louise!

The yellow brick road

The second half of the route is very exposed, you climb from the aid station to the top of the South Downs, and follow the ridge for a good few miles. There's nowhere to hide from the sun, and the combination of growing sunburn and relentless chilling breeze was becoming a bit uncomfortable - however I was still running on the flats and downhills so progress was good.

As the afternoon drew on and the sun started to sink a little lower in the sky the temperature dropped a few degrees. The aid stations are closer together in the final third of the race and started to feel like they were coming round more frequently. It was nice to meet fellow parkrun tourist Kiernan Easton at the last aid station, we've been Facebook friends for a while but hadn't managed to meet face to face before.

It's not a run on the South Downs without a picture of the Whitehawk Hill transmission station

The final section was quite hard going, there's a steep climb up from Jevington and a few people were finding it very hard going and had dropped to a slow walk. I tried to keep my pace up and climb with determination - but it was challenging for sure.

I'd been leapfrogging one particular runner all afternoon, and as he came past me with about 5km to go, As he passed he said "there's an outside chance we might just finish under eleven hours!". I had done well not thinking about aiming for a time, but with just 5km to go I was clearly going to get to the end, so I let myself take a look at the elapsed time. I'd been going for about 10:35, and I knew there were just a few kilometres left. He was right, maybe I could break 11 hours - that would be amazing!

A typical view - nowhere to hide from the sun

The final steep downhill into Eastbourne is tricky - it's narrow, a bit slippery, and there are lots of roots. I was taking it very easy - tired legs are easy to trip on if you're not careful. Once I'd got to the bottom I resolved to run, as best I could, to the end and try and get in under 11 hours.

I summoned everything I had left in the tank, this was a race now! I was thankful for my recent training run on this part of the circuit - knowing where you're going and exactly how far there is left is so helpful in these situations. I ran non stop for the last few kilometres, overtaking a couple of walkers along the way. It looked like I might just do it. There's a cycle track running from a main road to the athletics ground which is the finish - I'm sure it's twice as long as it was a fortnight ago!

The last couple of miles on the flat and a lap of the athletics track

Clearly some other runners had the same idea as me - I lost a couple of places along this stretch, but I couldn't go any faster! I rounded the final corner with about three and a half minutes to spare by my reckoning - but there was a lap of the running track to run yet! Mrs was here to greet me - she'd been on a business trip in the US and had come straight from the airport. She ran with me round that final lap of the track - I pushed with every ounce I had left and crossed the line tired, relieved, and very happy.

Official finishing pic from Stuart March Photography

My official time was 10:58:12 - I'd dipped under 11 hours by almost two minutes, and had knocked an entirely satisfactory 40 minutes and 19 seconds off my previous best - with a new 10k PB last week that makes two PBs in six days! What was particularly pleasing was that my legs had held up enough so I was still able to run properly at the end - this is a huge confidence boost as it's been a real problem in the past.

I was 275th out of 364 finishers, which I'm very happy with - 76% down the field as compared to 83% (132nd out of 159 finishers) at Chiltern Wonderland and 70% (100th out of 142 finishers) at Wendover Woods.

Ridiculously enormous medals this year and a t-shirt featuring new coloured arms

What a wonderful day - amazing organisation, a great result, and a fantastic start to the grand slam. Just five weeks to North Downs Way 50 - bring it on!

Race report: XNRG Chiltern Challenge Ultra 50km

The fun started early today. Up at 5am to get fed and up and about for today's run. First up, the 5:58 tube to Edgware Road. Train info was broken at Wimbledon, two trains were in and ready to go. Sign said "Take the first train and change at Earl's Court". One train was unlabelled, one said Edgware Road. I sat on the Edgware Road train, hopefully. The other one pulled out.

Already 15 minutes behind schedule, I got to Edgware Road at 6:50 - ten minutes to panic jog to Marylebone for the 7:00 to Princes Risborough - start and finish of the race. I collapsed onto the train - 06:58, made it!

At 07:35 when the two following trains to Princes Risborough had left, they finally announced to my train (which had gone nowhere) that there had been a problem with one of the carriages - which was fixed! and then  problem with the radio - which was fixed! and then a problem I could hear over the sound of polite(ish) complaining from the passengers. Train was cancelled.

There were around a dozen runners on my train, so we filed over to the 07:48. Very late now. Thankfully we were met at the station by a nice person from XNRG who gave us a lift to the school - venue for race control.

Race briefing for the 9am starters

Just got there in time to dump my kit bag for later, and get outside for the race briefing. Before I knew it  - we were off.

This is a 50km race around the Chilterns - and whilst there are none of the Lake District style peaks and valleys, there's no shortage of ups and downs. We set off in a big group along a fairly narrow track, spirits were high and just like the start of every ultra, most people were going to fast. Unfortunately I probably was too - being swept along in the rush.

Thankfully we hit a climb soon and everyone slowed to a walk - and from then on there was enough room to run/jog/walk as each of us saw fit.

Aid stations were at roughly 10km intervals. The first came round in just over an hour, and I was feeling good. The second arrived another hour and a bit later, and I was still feeling good - even better after a square of marmite sandwich. More aid stations should have savoury foods! (what I really fancied was a square of cheese - having breakfasted on the train of a bag pork scratchings  but no chance of cheese!).

The third 10km section was a bit longer, with more walking. The nice thing about ultras is you can go at your own pace, it's all about getting to the end - the time is secondary (unless you're in it for the win). For this one, there was a walking option, with walkers starting at 8am, then the masses at 9am, and elites at 10am. During the third 10km section I was overtaken by the lead elite - he'd made an hour on me in just two and a half hours - wow!

The third aid station was particularly welcome as they had mini cocktail sausages - hurrah! Annoyingly, by now my feet were getting a bit sore and I decided to do some more walking. This section, from aid station three to four, was the longest in time, distance, and effort.

I'd been out to the area a couple of times to look at the route, but there were some big changes from the previous years, in particular here - so most of it was unfamiliar. Thankfully aid station four finally arrived, at 41.5km a little later than expected.

I stopped here for a few minutes, and had a little sit down too. My feet were quite painful on the heel - the lack of sleep over the previous week (very busy work week) had left me tired and not keeping good form - I'd fallen into a more heel-first step than I'm used to, and it was getting painful.

The final stretch followed, just 8.5km to go. I walked most of it, with some jogging when I felt like it. After averaging around 8km/hour for the first four hours I'd slowed down and knew I was going to miss my notional 6 hour target, but I knew I'd get to the end.

Nice touch - a print out of the race telemetry

I finally passed under the finishing gantry back at the school in 6:54 - slower than intended, but without any injuries. This is the furthest I've run without my old knee/ITB issue kicking in. For me, that's a winning day.

I was planning on a quick shower, but the nice people at XNRG were giving lifts back to the station, so I didn't - my apologies to anyone who was within 10 feet of me during my journey home.

Couldn't smile much more than this by the end!

Total time 06:54:25

107th out of 217 finishers, 81st male finisher
Time Start to CP1 (approx 10km) 01:08:21
Time CP1 to CP2 (approx 10km) 01:08:22
Time CP2 to CP3 (approx 10km) 01:12:58
Time CP3 to CP4 (approx 12km) 01:56:26
Time CP4 to Finish (approx 8km) 01:28:18

Full results are here

Thanks to Mrs for buying me a hoodie when she signed me up - super comfy, fits perfectly

New PB strategy working out well

After ramping back on, well, basically everything in order to focus on work and my (now not so) new job, I've been running for fun lately. Sometimes many miles in a week, sometimes not so many. And it's been fun! I've even enjoyed a few parkruns lately after an average of one per month in January and February. It's been good to see the parkrun family again.

Me & Mrs, fun touristing at Gadebridge parkrun in Hemel Hempstead (photo by Tony Streams)

Lately though I've missed the buzz of racing, running with a number pinned to my t-shirt. Mrs has been away a lot lately (she has a new job now too) so I found myself at a loose end a couple of weekends ago. Turns out Thames Hare and Hounds, one of the many local running clubs, were starting a new series of 5-mile events. To be held on the second Sunday of every month they named the series 2nd Sunday 5.

The "2nd Sunday 5 pioneers" (photo courtesy of Thames Hare and Hounds)

I signed up for the first one, turned up, and ran it. It was small and low key, with just 22 entrants I came a respectable 14th after busting a lung or two trying to catch the person in front of me for the last mile and a half (I did, with just 20m to the finish line). My 43:46 time sets a new PB for 5 miles (by default, as I've never run a 5 mile race before!). Strava log is here.

Run down, complete the loop twice, then back to the start for a total of 5 miles (a little over 8km)

I enjoyed the course, and learned a new bit of Wimbledon Common. I shall certainly return on June 14th to try and better my time - and every other 2nd Sunday I can make it. I reckon it'll be a mud-bath in the winter, great fun.

Yesterday I again ran with a number pinned to my t-shirt. This time it was the Bupa Westminster Mile - a 1-mile event round St James's Park. I was running in the parkrun wave so there were many familiar faces. After a very enjoyable and scenic ride down the Thames Path I ended up in a bit of a panic jog to get to the start on time! I was really bringing my personal parkrun spirit to the day.

The start pen for the parkrun wave (photo by Steve Darby) - me in the middle talking to Mike!

So it turns out running a mile is really hard. I had set myself a target of under 7 minutes - based on some finger-in-the-air estimation of finding a time in between my fastest ever 1km (3:45 but in much better/lighter shape than I am now) and my normal "fast last km" at a parkrun, which at the moment is around 4:40. 7 minutes equates to 4:21 which felt about right.

Bumped into "parkrun pioneer" James Russell, one of the first 13 runners at Bushy Park event #1

Nice to have another medal for the collection

After a lung-busting first 800 yards (yards!, what's a yard?) I could feel my legs complaining - I haven't run hard for a long time. My pace dwindled a bit towards the end, but I managed a little push in the last 50m. I finished 549th of in an official time of 6:53 - happy with that, and another PB (seeing as I've never run a mile race either).

Play with the awesome Strava labs flyby tool here, and see how I stacked up against all the other starve users.

Race Report: Ironman 70.3 Mallorca

Hola, bienvenido a Mallorca!

It's Ironman MC Paul Kaye's fault we're here. We were talking at the awards ceremony after IM 70.3 Zell am See/Kaprun last year and discussing the races we'd be doing this year - "Hey why don't you start off in Mallorca, lovely weather and a nice early-season sharpener!" (or something like that). Before we knew it, we'd signed up. And then in no time at all it was here.

We spent the weekend before the race crewing for Louise in the Centurion Running Thames Path 100, a 100 mile running race up the Thames Path from Richmond to Oxford (just seeing it written down looks insane). Louise and that experience deserves more than a footnote here, so I'll post about that later.

No Dexter, you can't come to Spain, you have to go to "kitty hotel"

Mrs and I packed hastily and tiredly on Sunday night, and set off Monday morning to London City Airport. Thankfully it was a bank holiday and very quiet on the underground - bike boxes are large, and great fun on escalators. Coming back it'll be Monday rush hour - can't wait!

My favourite timesheet entries

This is not a rush-hour train

We're off!

Plans to spend the week training hard up to and through the race (not tapering specifically for it, or being too concerned about not feeling fresh) evaporated in the heat, wine, an relaxing atmosphere of Port d'Alcudia, host town for the Ironman 70.3 Mallorca. We went out for a lap of the bike course, had a few swims (particularly sea swims in our wetsuits), and I went for one run - a sweaty 10km out and back to see what the run course terrain was like (very flat). Not the heavy training week I had in mind, but a nice relaxing time that I certainly don't regret. This is by no means an a-race, I won't beat myself up about less than perfect preparation at this stage.

A meal on our terrace (yes, I know it looks like breakfast, no we weren't having wine for breakfast)

When we arrived on Monday afternoon there was no sign of there being a race the following weekend. Sure, there were a lot bikes around, but Mallorca is big for cyclists so I expect that's as normal. During the week the excitement built as the Ironman show came to town. Big Ironman trucks, miles of barriers, and more miles of blue carpet that ran the length of the longest transition I've ever seen. With more than 3,500 athletes taking part, this is Ironman 70.3 racing at scale.

Lots of people out to check out the bike course a few days before the race

Bike-friendly petrol station and café

Very high with a glorious sequence of switchbacks to get back down

Unfortunately, Mrs took a pretty bad tumble in transition the day before the race and hurt her knee pretty badly - it immediately swelled up and went purple - for a while we though she'd broken it. She was destined not to start the race, so it was up to me to get team Driskell on the score sheet.

All registered!

Expo on the beach - it's a totally different atmosphere in this kind of climate

A little retail therapy!

"Hello, yes, your two truckloads of Ironman have arrived"

Building the longest transition I've ever seen

Let no trade mark remain uninfringed!

The day before I racked up my bike. It wasn't a "clean" transition, so we were permitted to leave he;mets and race numbers on the bikes. This is unusual in my experience, maybe because all the other races I've done have been in windy places where it's a near-miracle if your bike hasn't blown away over night, never mind anything left resting on it!

See you tomorrow! (check out the beautiful BMC TM01 on the left *swoon*)

This is what a 3,500+ bike transition looks like

We were staying at a hotel very near the start so race day morning was pretty low stress - particularly with only one of us racing. We walked down to the beach and I popped into the sea to acclimatise. I've suffered from panics in the swim before so I'd been practising running down the beck into the sea during the week. The panics always clear in a few minutes, but it takes time and is very unpleasant. The worst I've experienced was at IM Wales in 2012 which was admittedly my fault (why I thought "run in from the front" was a good idea I'll never know), but was a highly unpleasant experience none the less. I also freaked out in the London Triathlon last year, and IM 70.3 Zell am See. I'm convinced it's nothing but a lack of experience and confidence, so we spent a fair amount of time earlier in the week practising starts.

Off for a practice swim

Mrs on the beach

Contents of my white bag, for before and after the race

My BFFs on race day

The swim: 0:33:28

During my warmup I watched the pro waves start, and then the big wave with all the female age groupers - more than 600 of them, a seemingly never ending stream of pink swim caps. Feeling relaxed, I went to the assembly area to await my start. M35-39 is the biggest group in this race so we had our own start wave. I had decided to start at the back on the left to give myself as much room as I could to relax at the start. I never get panicked once I'm going, it's just something that has happened after 15-30 seconds of swimming. Once it's cleared which takes what feels like an age but is probably only one or two minutes and I relax, I find my rhythm again.

Swim course was a nice easy single loop

The gun sounded and we were off. I walked down into the water to try and keep my heart rate from spiking with excitement and effort of running through the shallows in a wetsuit (maybe a contributing factor to panics?) and jumped in. Massive props to Mrs for teaching me how to running-jump into the water, it make a big difference to enter cleanly and without slowing down much. It was busy, but I had some room to myself to settle in. No rising panic, good news. I gradually turned on the power as I got more comfortable and started overtaking people. This is the most frustrating thing, once I get going I'm reasonably fast, but to avoid freaking out (or to take the time to recover if I have) I always start at the very back and have to battle through people. I need to make it a priority to get as much open water experience as I can in training this year.

Hitting the "lap" button at swim exit

I had a good swim out without much contact, got a little bit bashed round the turn buoys but that's normal in a big group. The return leg was a bit rougher as I got caught in a bit of a pack and couldn't get through. My group swimming sills are poor, something to work on. Still, it could have been worse, I saw one poor chap disappear at right angles to everyone else, off to the other side of the bay being frantically chased by a marshall in a kayak. There's always someone cocking it up worse than you, and I'm pretty sure I've been that guy in the past!

I was making an effort to sight every 3rd breath and I'm fairly sure it paid off, I swam in a straighter line than normal. I have an annoying tendency to drift to the right if I don't sight frequently. I ended up setting a new personal best for a 70.3 swim, so I'm certainly happy with that.


Transition 1 (Swim to Bike): 0:07:21

T1 was good, normally I find my heart rate goes through the roof after swim exit and I can barely walk never mind run, but this time I jogged at a respectable pace all the way up the beach, grabbing my blue bag, and into the change tent. Often I lose many tens of places here, but not today. Hopefully I can do the same at IM 70.3 UK in five weeks.

The blue bike bag for T1 (helmet, glasses and race number were all mounted on my bike)

I took the time to put socks on, not really for the bike but more to protect from blisters on the run. Stuffed a couple of gels in my pocket, and ran off to fetch my bike - it was a good three-quarters of the way down transition, and took an age to get there. As I was on my road bike I couldn't clip my shoes to the bike in advance so I had the added annoyance of running in my road-bike shoes.

Transition, measured by my Garmin, at a little over 400m from end to end!

The bike: 03:19:09

Seeing as it was supposed to be a training week I'd decided to bring my road bike rather than my triathlon time-trial bike (tri-bike). I should have realised that as soon as I was in a race I would want to race with any thoughts of "it's just a training ride" going straight out the window. Therefore, I regretted my bike choice almost immediately.

In the first few kilometres I overtook a host of people from the wave before, all on their swanky tri-bikes and my on my creaky old Fuji road bike. Within the first 20km I realised that riding so long on the dropped handlebars with little variation in power and cadence was going to wreck my hip flexors. You don't get the same amount of leg extension on a road bike as you do a tri-bike, and the leg and bum muscles are engaged differently. Not changing position much wasn't helping.

The one-lap course is in toughly four sections. A 20km flat start, a 10km sequence of climbs, 15km back down again, and then the second 45km half on the level with just the odd pimple to shave off a little momentum.

Looking happy on the bike

With over 3,500 bikes hitting the circuit over the course of an hour and a half there was bound to be some congestion. It was virtually impossible to get the right distance away from everyone. The draft-busting motorbikes tried their best, but it's kind of pointless - you're almost permanently in a position of overtaking or being overtaken, and the differences in speed are often so small that packs naturally form, particularly on uphills. I don't know what the solution is - enter smaller races or try not to be hacked off by the ones doing it deliberately (and, as always, there were many of those).

The big climb came - I knew what I was in for having ridden the course on Tuesday. It felt harder today, I was slow and many many people overtook me. It didn't help that in first gear my derailleur was clicking against my spokes. Minus ten points for bike prep. Looking back I don't remember buckling down and trying hard to get up the hill quickly, I just rode up the hill. Maybe that's why I lost so much ground, I wasn't trying hard enough?

Pretty tired here, this was in the final kilometre

At the top I had one of the two gels I had planned, and set off on the descent. It turns out Team Freespeed's Sam Baxter and his friend Tom Babbington were at at the top cheering people on - I didn't see them, but they saw me. "You didn't look very happy!" was their comment. "I didn't feel very happy!" was my response.

The downhill was a lot of fun, I recharged my legs and made up quite a lot of places through understanding how to go round switchbacks. Some really very poor bike handling was on display from some of my fellow athletes. One poor guy crashed on the first corner of the descent - imagine putting all the effort in to get to the top, and then not getting to enjoy the downhill. Bummer.

My legs were feeling pretty tired as I passed 60km and had my second gel. The last third of the course is flat, some on wide main roads. Riding the course on Tuesday I didn't enjoy this bit as we were into a headwind, but today there was a nice tailwind so we all spun along at high speed in a high gear. As the faster athletes from the waves behind flew past me I again lamented not bringing my tri-bike. My legs were not happy, I knew I could and should be going faster, but being cramped up on the drops for over two hours now was taking its toll.

One-lap bike course...

...with one big hill in it!

Team Freespeed's Matt Malloy passed me at 63km. His wave went off 50 minutes behind mine! I expected to see him, but not quite so quickly. He's a totally monster on the bike, but I shouldn't have been this easy to catch. Turning off the main road we had a few kilometres into the wind now, and my hip flexors were screaming. I tried different grips, sat forward or backward on my seat, but nothing helped - they were just fried from trying to ride my road bike like a time trial bike. I slowed considerably and lost a lot of time (and places) in this section.

Thankfully the last 15km was back with the slight tailwind and I cruised back into transition knowing it could have gone a lot worse. The opportunity to recharge my legs a bit was welcome, but I wasn't sad to get off the bike.

Off the bike and into transition

I had previously decided to ride my road bike at Ironman 70.3 UK too, this experience has made me reconsider. I'm going to ride the course in a couple of weekend's time - I may take both bikes and see what the difference is. Last time I rode that course I had a bit of a crap time - but that was due to some mechanical troubles, lack of experience, and picking stupid carbon rims that made stopping a nightmare experience!


Transition 2 (Bike to Run): 0:05:34

Pleased to finally get off the bike I jogged back all the way to the change tent. I cursed leaving my shoes on rather than leaving them on the bike - running in socks would have been much faster! T2 is always uneventful, helmet off, gloves off, running shoes and cap on, turn your number belt round, don't lose your sunglasses.

The red run bag for T2

Being a bit concerned about the heat and possible chafing I decided to try some Sailfish lube I got at the expo. It goes on like roller-ball deodorant - I liberally applied it under my arms, and where the seams on my top were. Not much worse than running in the sun with armpit chafing-pain!


The run: 02:22:30

In short, my run was terrible. I'd rather have done another lap of the bike course (and that's saying something).

By the time I got on the course it was well over 30C and climbing by the minute. In retrospect I think my problem was that I never actually started running - I set off at a shuffle and didn't try hard enough to get my legs and rhythm into a proper run. My kilometre splits quickly dropped to 6:30 and then 7:00 as I made my way round the three-lap half-marathon course.

Apart from at aid stations where I topped up with water and wet sponges I resisted the urge to walk. I felt I needed a boost so took to drinking a small cup of cola at each aid station. Sometimes this was straight from the fridge, a most welcome surprise when it happened.

Let's be honest, this isn't really running...

I got some more encouragement from Sam out on the course (I noticed him this time), and managed to see Mrs once too. I lost hundreds of places; everyone was running faster than me. I think it was a combination of heat and poor mental strength. My learning from this going to IM 70.3 UK in five weeks' time is that I have to be mentally stronger and force myself to actually running, otherwise I'll never get there. It's easy to say now "I could have run if only I'd tried", but I really do feel that's the case.

I finished in a new PW (personal worst) for a 70.3 run, but it was by far the hottest half marathon I've ever completed. My shoulders burned a bit despite factor 30 sun cream. I should have made better provision to cover myself up - I'm fairly sure that didn't help either.

At last!

It was a relief to end the shuffle-fest and cross the line - I tried to look happy for the camera, but I'm not sure it worked. Mrs met me at the end, she still had her athlete wristband on so was able to meet me in the recovery area. I was finding the noise and crowd a bit disorienting, so we made our way out and got an ice cream. Ice cream fixes everything!

Yum!

Overall: 06:28:02

It wasn't a race I was aiming for, it was a bit of fun in the sun. I had a confidence-boosting swim, learned a bit on the bike, and didn't enjoy the run. Although I'm disappointed with my overall time, a personal worst at the distance, I have to look objectively at the day. A bit of race experience when it's been a long time since I've raced, and a week in the sun relaxing with the Mrs.

On the beach afterwards, with a hoodie from Mrs to protect my burny bits!

"What's that? Time for a glass of vino, you say?!"

Party time!

In the evening we had dinner with some of the Black Line London crew. I've loosely known a couple of them via Twitter, but it was great to put some faces to names and meet some new people - they're a good bunch, say hi if you get the chance. Following that I drank heavily at their after-party, the Black Line London race day cocktail helped take the edge off!

Mrs with Team Freespeed's Matt Malloy

As always, the post-race glow has now hit me hard and I'm already wanting to come back next year - but this is precisely what I said I wouldn't do, sign up for races a year in advance and lock myself into a schedule! Maybe one little 70.3 would be OK? I know that with better prep and mental toughness I can go so much faster, easily an hour quicker on this course. I feel that IM 70.3 Galway in 2012 is the only 70.3 where I've really put the effort in on the day and finished knowing I couldn't have gone any faster - I even took ten minutes off my previous half-marathon PB. This is going to be my mission for IM 70.3 UK in June - to really try hard and give it everything.

Before that though is the Blenheim Triathlon in a month. I'm looking forward to a sprint, it's been a long time since I've "left it all out there" in a sprint distance race. I'd better go dust off the tri-bike for that one.

This is a very hard way to get new jewellery and clothing